On The Run

Jay Kumar

A marathon is a funny thing. You spend months preparing for it, running through miserable cold weather and nagging injuries, coming up with a race strategy, constantly checking weather forecasts in the last weeks leading up to the event. It turns out to be a glorious day and you beat your previous Boston best by 13 minutes. And you're still not happy.

The weekend leading up to the race was a busy one. I picked up my number from the race expo at the Hynes Auditorium on Saturday and then we trekked into the North End Sunday afternoon for an early pre-race dinner with some friends from out-of-town. I didn't get to bed until 11:45 and had a fitful five hours of sleep; I'm always worried I'll sleep in so I inevitably wake up every so often and check the clock.

My wife and daughters accompanied me to the parking lot outside the New England Running Co. in Beverly, where I was to board a bus chartered by my running club, the North Shore Striders. The bus was supposed to arrive at 6 a.m. and we saw it in the adjacent parking lot in front of Stop & Shop briefly before the driver turned out of the parking lot and headed back in the direction it came. It took a few minutes, but eventually he came back and picked up the group of 20 or so runners. We then headed to Vinnin Square in Swampscott to pick up a second group before heading to Hopkinton. We pulled in at about 8:20.

It can't be overstated that having a bus with a bathroom is a beautiful thing on Marathon Monday. We were able to hang out on the bus until it was time to head to our corrals for the race to begin, which allowed us to stay out of the chilly temps (it was foggy and in the low 40s). But it also allowed us to avoid the ridiculously long PortaPotty lines in the Athletes Village.

By the time I walked over to my starting corral, the sun had come out and I found I didn't need the throwaway pants and jacket I was wearing to stay warm until the start. I ran in a short-sleeved shirt and shorts because I prefer to run better without long sleeves or pants.

I regret that I forgot to put my name on my shirt since that is the easiest way to get people to cheer for you. But I had no desire to run in some sort of costume or with a prop, as my fellow Strider did with his homemade "Pesky's Pole" hat in tribute to the legendary Fenway Park foul pole. I also saw a guy dressed as Captain America (complete with shield), another with a full-sized American flag strapped to his back, a runner dressed as a bumble bee, and a group of German runners dressed as Hooters waitresses.

No, I was fairly serious about attempting to run the marathon in a time of 3:50 or faster, which would be a substantial improvement on my previous Boston best of 4:10 in 2002. That was my first marathon and I had a tough, heat-affected 4:38 the following spring. Since then I had avoided Boston and run other, flatter races with faster results. But when the Striders made some numbers available this year because of their annual staffing of the mile 12 water stop, I decided to try this punishing race again as my 11th marathon.

It's not just Heartbreak Hill, but the combination of the primarily downhill first 14 miles and then the last four miles after Cleveland Circle that add up to some serious pain. But the race is so historic and the fan support so great, it still manages to be an exciting experience.

This year was no different. The fans were really worked up, not just the Wellesley College girls who you can hear screaming a mile before you see them, but everyone all along the route. I ran without an iPod so I could take it all in and it was great. We got plenty of updates on the Sox-Orioles game. I also managed to spot my wife and several friends at different points along the route, which can really provide a boost when you're struggling. There was a headwind that reached 20 mph at times, so that made some of those hills even tougher.

I had printed out a pace band that I wore around my right wrist to give me an idea of the pace I needed to keep up to reach my goal of 3:50. I hoped that I would have something left after the hills to bring me in a little ahead of that goal. I managed to stay a few minutes ahead of my pace until about halfway up the Newton hills. But it wasn't until Cleveland Circle that I started getting some side stitches that slowed me down a bit; I had to walk a few times to shake them off. As I made the turn into Cleveland Circle, I passed the great Bill Rodgers, the former champ who was making his return to the marathon after 10 years and a battle with cancer last year. He was walking with a few other runners, but he looked okay.

I stepped it up the last few miles and finished strong, coming in with a chip time of 3:56:57. After I had to walk a few times, I decided to forget the pace band and just try to finish under 4 hours. That last stretch on Boylston Street always seems to take forever, but I powered through it knowing that it would mercifully be over in a few minutes.

Crossing the finish line was such a relief, but it also led to a painful hour for me as I hobbled through the slow process of getting my timing chip removed from my shoe, receiving my finisher's medal, getting one of those shiny space blankets, and making the long journey to pick up my bag from the baggage buses. We were all shuffling around like zombies...shiny, salt-encrusted zombies with medals and bottles of water. It didn't help matters that the wind whips through that area, quickly dropping our core temperatures. Several hours later, I'm less sore but I do have some not-so-nice blisters on a few toes.

So why do I do it? It certainly isn't fun by any stretch of the imagination. Well, parts of it are fun, but the last 10 miles were pretty tough. But it's a test of endurance and it's great to be able to say you did it. And to say you beat Bill Rodgers, even if he's 61 and was probably just out for a nice easy 26.2-mile run (he finished in 4:06). Doesn't matter. Still, I'm disappointed that I didn't break 3:50.

So what's next? I'm taking a few days off to recuperate before I run the Ring Around the Neck 5-miler in Marblehead on Sunday. And of course, I'll start looking for a fall marathon. A nice, flat one.

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On the Run is a biweekly column about the North Shore running scene. Send any questions, comments, or news to jay.kumar@gmail.com.